Trump hails indictment of Comey: ‘Justice in America’
In a sharp departure from the tradition that presidents should not comment on criminal cases, Donald Trump just celebrated the indictment of the former FBI director James Comey, in terms that could make it even easier for Comey’s lawyers to argue that he is the victim of selective prosecution.
The indictment came days after Trump forced out a career prosecutor in the eastern district of Virginia who had determined that there was insufficient evidence to charge Comey, and posted a public instruction to Bondi to replace him with a White House aide, Lindsey Halligan, who could be trusted to prosecute Comey and other officials Trump holds a grudge against.
“JUSTICE IN AMERICA!” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey, the former Corrupt Head of the FBI. Today he was indicted by a Grand Jury on two felony counts for various illegal and unlawful acts. He has been so bad for our Country, for so long, and is now at the beginning of being held responsible for his crimes against our Nation,” the president added.
He then signed off with his political slogan: “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Key events
-
Attorney general and FBI director welcome charges against Comey
-
Trump hails indictment of Comey: ‘Justice in America’
-
Trump announces tariffs on trucks, kitchen cabinets and furniture
-
Ilhan Omar says Trump made up story about discussing her with Somalia’s president
-
Former FBI director and Trump critic James Comey indicted by prosecutor installed by president
-
Trump directs FBI and justice department to investigate supposed funders of ‘organized political violence’
-
House Democrat campaigners predict GOP ‘will be blamed’ if government shuts down over healthcare demands
-
Trump signs memorandum directing federal prosecutors to seek death penalty for murders in Washington DC
-
Trump says he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank
-
Security at Ice facilities to be stepped up in wake of Dallas shooting
-
Trump announces deal for US investors to take over TikTok in US
-
Here’s a recap of the day so far
-
Officials say shooter used ‘Ice tracking apps’ to monitor agents’ movements
-
FBI special agent says suspect ‘intended to kill Ice agents’
-
US attorney says shooter was targeting Ice personnel but there is no evidence he was in ‘any specific group or entity’
-
Officials confirm name of suspect in Dallas Ice facility shooting
-
Utah court appoints attorney to man charged with killing Charlie Kirk
-
Trump’s false assertion that London could introduce sharia law is ‘nonsense’, says UK’s Starmer in rare rebuke
-
DOJ official pushes prosecutors to investigate George Soros’s foundation – report
-
‘Radical left Democrats’ are causing increase in political violence, says Trump
-
Trump stays quiet about Comey indictment, calls former FBI director a ‘sick person’
-
Trump blames government shutdown on Democrats, after White House memo tells agencies to prepare for layoffs
-
‘We’re close to getting a deal done,’ Trump says on Gaza war
-
Trump says he wants Turkey to stop buying Russian oil
-
Trump begins meeting with Erdoğan
-
Trump welcomes Erdoğan to the White House
-
Controversial Oklahoma state superintendent to resign, joins conservative teachers non-profit
-
Top Democrats say they ‘won’t be intimidated’ by White House memo ordering layoffs in event of government shutdown
-
Union president says ‘federal employees are not bargaining chips’, as government shutdown looms
-
Trump due to welcome president of Turkey to the White House
-
Federal judge rules that fired inspectors general can’t be reinstated
-
Federal prosecutors presented newly minted US attorney with memo suggesting not to file charges against Comey
-
White House budget office tells agencies to prepare for mass firings in event of government shutdown – report
-
Trump’s CDC cuts could threaten chronic illness and national security, experts warn
-
Trump hangs autopen photo instead of Biden portrait in new presidential gallery
-
Gunman wrote ‘ANTI-ICE’ on unused bullet in fatal attack on Dallas immigration office
-
Former FBI director James Comey expected to be indicted on criminal charges, reports say
Attorney general and FBI director welcome charges against Comey
Donald Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, and FBI director, Kash Patel, welcomed the indictment of James Comey, who served as deputy attorney general during the George W Bush administration and was fired as FBI director by Donald Trump in 2017 after he told Congress that the FBI was conducting a counterintelligence investigation of Russian interference in the election of Trump as president in 2016.
A justice department press release sent to reporters on Thursday began:
Today, a federal grand jury has charged former FBI Director James Comey with serious crimes related to the disclosure of sensitive information. The indictment alleges that Comey obstructed a congressional investigation into the disclosure of sensitive information in violation of 18 USC 1505.
The indictment also alleges that Comey made a false statement in violation of 18 USC 1001. Comey stated that he did not authorize someone at the FBI to be an anonymous source. According to the indictment that statement was false.
The statement was followed by a quote from Bondi, which was posted on her official X account earlier. “No one is above the law,” the attorney general said. “Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people. We will follow the facts in this case.”
“Today, your FBI took another step in its promise of full accountability,” Patel added. “For far too long, previous corrupt leadership and their enablers weaponized federal law enforcement, damaging once proud institutions and severely eroding public trust. Every day, we continue the fight to earn that trust back, and under my leadership, this FBI will confront the problem head-on.
“Nowhere was this politicization of law enforcement more blatant than during the Russiagate hoax, a disgraceful chapter in history we continue to investigate and expose. Everyone, especially those in positions of power, will be held to account – no matter their perch. No one is above the law.”
Despite the intensity of those accusations from the most senior officials in the justice department, the statement included the following disclaimer, written in italics at the bottom of the page:
“An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”
Trump hails indictment of Comey: ‘Justice in America’
In a sharp departure from the tradition that presidents should not comment on criminal cases, Donald Trump just celebrated the indictment of the former FBI director James Comey, in terms that could make it even easier for Comey’s lawyers to argue that he is the victim of selective prosecution.
The indictment came days after Trump forced out a career prosecutor in the eastern district of Virginia who had determined that there was insufficient evidence to charge Comey, and posted a public instruction to Bondi to replace him with a White House aide, Lindsey Halligan, who could be trusted to prosecute Comey and other officials Trump holds a grudge against.
“JUSTICE IN AMERICA!” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey, the former Corrupt Head of the FBI. Today he was indicted by a Grand Jury on two felony counts for various illegal and unlawful acts. He has been so bad for our Country, for so long, and is now at the beginning of being held responsible for his crimes against our Nation,” the president added.
He then signed off with his political slogan: “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump announces tariffs on trucks, kitchen cabinets and furniture
As the legality of Donald Trump’s tariffs remains in doubt, the president announced three more on Thursday.
Writing on his social media platform, Trump said: “I will be imposing, as of October 1st, 2025, a 25% Tariff on all “Heavy (Big!) Trucks” made in other parts of the World. Therefore, our Great Large Truck Company Manufacturers, such as Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Mack Trucks, and others, will be protected.”
In a separate post, he added: “We will be imposing a 50% Tariff on all Kitchen Cabinets, Bathroom Vanities, and associated products, starting October 1st, 2025. Additionally, we will be charging a 30% Tariff on Upholstered Furniture.”
Ilhan Omar says Trump made up story about discussing her with Somalia’s president
Ilhan Omar, the Somali-born congresswoman from Minnesota, accused Donald Trump of inventing a story he told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, about having supposedly asked Somalia’s president if he would “take her back.”
Omar is a naturalized US citizen who was born in Somalia and raised in a refugee camp in Kenya, but Trump has frequently treated her criticism of him as an affront to the United States from someone he still regards as a foreigner.
Trump brought up Omar on Thursday in the course of a rambling answer to a question about Jasmine Crockett, a fellow Democratic congresswoman. When Trump was asked by a conservative reporter if Crockett should face “consequences” for saying, “When I see Ice, I see slave patrols,” the president repeated the racist claim he frequently makes about Black leaders who challenge him: “she is a very low IQ person.”
He then brought up Omar, whose name he mispronounced, unprompted.
“This is a low IQ person, who I can’t I can’t believe is a congressperson, between her and Ilman Omar,” Trump said. “I met the head of Somalia,” he continued, “And I suggested that maybe he’d like to take her back, and he didn’t want her.”
As Trump’s vice-president, JD Vance, doubled over in laughter, and other members of his cabinet chuckled, the president said again: “He said, ‘I don’t want her.’”
The White House was so proud of this quip that Trump’s special assistant, Margo Martin, posted video of it on an official government social media account.
Omar responded by suggesting the president, who said last week he was not sure if Somalia even has a president, had made the whole thing up. “From denying Somalia had a president to making up a story, President Trump is a lying buffoon. No one should take this embarrassing fool seriously,” she wrote on X.
Somalia’s president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, was in New York this week to address the United Nations, but he the US official he met with was not the president, but his advisor on African affairs, Massad Boulos, whose son is married to Trump’s daughter Tiffany.
Former FBI director and Trump critic James Comey indicted by prosecutor installed by president
Lauren Gambino
James Comey, the former FBI director and one of Donald Trump’s most frequent targets, was indicted on Thursday on one count of making a false statement to Congress and one count of obstruction of justice, according to a person familiar with the matter, in the latest move in the president’s expansive retribution campaign against his political adversaries.
“No one is above the law. Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people. We will follow the facts in this case,” Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, tweeted on Thursday.
The indictment came shortly after Trump instructed Bondi to “move now” to prosecute Comey and other officials he considers political foes, in an extraordinarily direct social media post trampling on the justice department’s tradition of independence.
Lindsey Halligan, the president’s former lawyer who was recently sworn in as the US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, asked a grand jury to indict Comey for allegedly lying to Congress in testimony on 30 September 2020 before the five-year statute of limitations expires in the coming days. Comey’s testimony before the Senate judiciary committee was related to his handling of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.
Halligan, who has no prosecutorial experience, was elevated to the post after Erik Siebert was forced out of the job for failing to bring indictments against Comey and Letitia James, the New York attorney general.
Trump directs FBI and justice department to investigate supposed funders of ‘organized political violence’
Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the justice department and the FBI’s joint terrorism taskforce to investigate what he claimed is an organized campaign of political violence and domestic terrorism funded by wealthy Democratic donors.
At an Oval Office event, Trump’s domestic policy adviser, Stephen Miller, claimed that violence on the fringes of racial justice protests following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, “all the way through to the Antifa riots”, was “part of an organized campaign of radical left terrorism” funded by wealthy donors. “It is terrorism on our soil,” Miller said.
According data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, nearly 10,000 Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 were entirely peaceful. According to the researchers, there was no looting, arson, or violence of any kind at 94% of the racial justice protests in 2020. And in many cases in which there was violence, it was either inflicted on protesters, by the police or right-wing vigilantes, or took place after peaceful rallies, in incidents that were given disproportionate attention by Fox News and the Trump White House.
“People and organizations have collected funds and organized violence,” Miller claimed.
“We are going to chase them down like the domestic terrorists they are,” the FBI director, Kash Patel added.
Citing his previously made claim that the production quality of signs seen at protests is evidence of funding, Trump claimed that protesters opposed to structural racism in policing or his mass deportation sweeps are “professional anarchists and agitators, and they get hired by wealthy people, some of whom I know, I guess”.
Asked who he was referring to, Trump said, “Soros is a name that I keep hearing”, in reference to the hedge fund billionaire philanthropist George Soros, whose Open Society Foundations is now run by his son Alex.
“Reid Hoffman,” Trump added, referring to the billionaire Democratic donor, a co-founder of LinkedIn and Microsoft board member. “I hear about him.”
House Democrat campaigners predict GOP ‘will be blamed’ if government shuts down over healthcare demands
Chris Stein
The House Democratic campaign arm believes their lawmakers have the advantage in the tense battle over government funding, after last week refusing to back a Republican plan to prevent a shutdown unless their demands on healthcare and other issues are met.
In a memo shared exclusively with the Guardian, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) outlines how the party’s lawmakers can use the standoff to their advantage as they seek to regain control of the House of Representatives in next year’s election.
“The American people desperately want the health care crisis fixed, and it’s crystal clear that Republicans will be blamed when they refuse to address the crisis they created,” the DCCC wrote.
House Republicans last week passed a bill to fund the government through 21 November on a near party line vote, without addressing any of Democrats’s demands. Republican leadership then announced the chamber would not return to work until October – when funding would be exhausted – in an attempt to pressure Senate Democrats to give the bill the support it needs to pass.
“Vulnerable House Republicans allowing health care costs to soar for millions of Americans combined with their decision to skip town provides a clear contrast and sets up a messaging frame that can carry through to next November when Democrats retake the majority,” the DCCC wrote.
“By refusing to work with Democrats to address their health care crisis, they are sending a message to the public that Republicans are more concerned about pleasing Donald Trump than working on behalf of the American people.”
Democrats are insisting Republicans undo cuts to Medicaid they approved earlier this year, extend subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans and restore funding to public media. Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, the top Democrats in the House and Senate, respectively, attempted to meet with Donald Trump earlier this week, but he called it off. On Wednesday, the White House threatened mass layoffs of federal workers if the government shuts down.
Trump signs memorandum directing federal prosecutors to seek death penalty for murders in Washington DC
Donald Trump just signed a memo directing the justice department and his US attorney for the District of Columbia, the former Fox News commentator Jeanine Pirro, to seek the death penalty in Washington DC.
The District of Columbia carried out its last execution in 1957. That April, it put Robert Eugene Carter to death for killing a police officer as Carter tried to flee a robbery.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center:
The District’s death penalty was nullified by the Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia in 1972 and repealed by the D.C. Council in 1981. District residents voted 2 – 1 against the death penalty in a 1992 referendum ordered by Congress. Prior to the referendum, the D.C. Council passed legislation allowing for a sentencing option of life without parole for first-degree murder. Lawmakers touted the legislation as an alternative to the reinstatement of the death penalty.
Trump says he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank
Asked by a reporter if he promised leaders of Arab and Muslim countries he met this week that he would block Israel from formally annexing the West Bank territory it has occupied since 1967, Donald Trump replied: “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Nope. I won’t allow it. It’s not going to happen.”
When the reporters asked if he had discussed the matter with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said that he had, but stressed that the decision was up to him. “I’m not going to allow it.”
“There’s been enough, it’s time to stop now,” Trump added.
Asked by reporters in the Oval Office about the possibility of a government shutdown, and whether he would agree to a request from Democrats to provide funds for health insurance subsidies for millions of Americans who depend on policies obtained through the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, Donald Trump just repeated his false claim that Democrats are insisting on funding “to give the money to illegal aliens”.
Security at Ice facilities to be stepped up in wake of Dallas shooting
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a written statement sent to the Guardian that security at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) offices will be stepped up after the shooting at an Ice office in Dallas, which she claimed was part of a wider pattern.
“In light of the horrific shooting that was motivated by hatred for Ice and the other unprecedented acts of violence against Ice law enforcement, including bomb threats, cars being used a weapons, rocks and molotov cocktails thrown at officers, and doxing online of officers’ families, DHS will immediately begin increasing security at Ice facilities across the country. Our Ice officers are facing a more than 1,000% increase in assaults against them,” McLaughlin said (bold text in the original).
McLaughlin then suggested, without evidence, that the shooting at the Ice facility had been inspired by anti-Ice rhetoric from Democrats. Law enforcement officials said earlier on Thursday that the gunman in Dallas acted alone, and wasn’t acting as part of “any specific group or entity”.
“This shooting must serve as a wake-up call to the far-left that their rhetoric about Ice has consequences,” McLaughlin said. “Comparing Ice day-in and day-out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences.”
Trump announces deal for US investors to take over TikTok in US
Donald Trump just announced that TikTok will be able to remain operating in the United States because a deal has been agreed for a group of US investors to buy the video-sharing app’s US operations.
“We have American investors taking it over, running it,” Trump said, mentioning that one of the investors is Larry Ellison, the Oracle founder, and others include Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch.
The vice-president, JD Vance, said that the deal means that Americans will be able to use the app “with more confidence” because their personal data will not be shared with China, and the app will “not used as propaganda weapon” by the Chinese company that created it and designed the algorithm.
Asked whether the algorithm will still be under the control of the app’s Chinese parent company, Vance said “the US company will control how the algorithm pushes content to users”.
Trump also said that he as getting calls from friends who wanted a TikTok deal approved because of pressure from their children whop wanted to keep using it.
The vice-president said that the company is valued at $14bn.
Asked by a reporter if the change in ownership could mean that users will see “more Maga-related content”, Trump first joked that he would like to “make it 100% Maga”, before saying: “No, everyone is going to be treated fairly … every philosophy.”
Here’s a recap of the day so far
-
At a press conference following the shooting at a Dallas immigration facility, authorities said the suspect “intended to kill Ice agents”. So far, they believe the shooter – who they have identified as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn – acted alone, and wasn’t acting as part of “any specific group or entity”.
-
Law enforcement officials said that they recovered a “collection of notes” at Jahn’s residence which showed he did not intend to harm detainees. “It’s clear from these notes that he was targeting Ice agents and Ice personnel,” said Nancy Larson, acting US attorney for the northern district of Texas. They added that Jahn used an “Ice tracking app” to monitor federal agents, and believe he used a ladder to position himself at the top of a neighboring roof to carry out the attack. One detainee was killed, and two more were severely injured.
-
Earlier, while welcoming Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Donald Trump blamed “radical left” Democrats for the increase in political violence throughout the country. Taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office, Trump added that “the radical left is causing this problem, not the right”.
-
The president also blamed Democrats for any mass layoffs at federal agencies in the event of a government shutdown. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent a memo telling agencies to identify programs, projects and activities where discretionary funding will lapse at the end of the month, and prepare for a massive reduction-in-force. “This is all caused by the Democrats. They asked us to do something that’s totally unreasonable. They never change,” the president said.
-
For their part, top congressional Democrats said the memo was an intimidation tactic from the administration. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries called Russ Vought, head of the OMB, a “a malignant political hack” and said that Democrats “will not be intimidated by your threat to engage in mass firings”. While Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said the move to fire workers was “nothing new and has nothing to do with funding the government”. Lawmakers have until 30 September to pass a resolution to keep the government funded, and avoid a shutdown.
-
The justice department is preparing to indict former FBI director James Comey, according to multiple reports. This comes after Donald Trump fired Erik Siebert, the US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, after he said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute longtime political adversaries like Comey, and New York attorney general Letitia James. Trump appointed White House staffer and attorney Lindsey Halligan as Siebert’s replacement. At the White House today, Trump kept quiet about any pending charges, but said that Comey is a “sick person” who did “terrible things at the FBI”.
Per the White House pool, President Erdoğan of Turkey has finished with his meetings in Washington and is flying back home.
Later, Donald Trump will welcome prime minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan for a meeting. Sharif will be making a stop in DC as part of his wider visit to the US, to address the United Nations general assembly.
Charles said the detainees who were wounded in Wednesday’s attacks would receive due process, but stopped short of saying what their immigration status is currently.
